Preparations are ramping up for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, which are now less than a year away, with work on the key snow sports venues in Cortina intensifying as organizers look to keep their plans on track.
The winter sports showpiece will take place from Feb 6 to 22 next year, with the Paralympic Winter Games following from March 6 to 15.
Although it will be Milan's first time staging the Olympics, Cortina is no stranger to the event, having hosted the Winter Olympics back in 1956.
Milan has the honor of staging the opening ceremony, the ice skating and ice hockey events, and will also will house the Olympic Village, while Cortina will feature the bobsleigh, skeleton, luge, women's alpine skiing, and curling.
In addition, athletes will compete across three other mountain clusters, with the closing ceremony set to take place in Verona in northern Italy's Veneto region.
As the deadlines approach, workers are now pushing hard in the construction of a new arena for the bobsleigh competitions.
Plans to rebuild the century-old track in Cortina faced strong opposition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which suggested using a venue outside of Italy. However, following an intervention by the Italian government, construction on this new track in Cortina began a year ago.
With testing set to begin at the end of March, Fabio Saldini, government commissioner and CEO of Societa Infrastrutture Milano Cortina 2026 (SIMICO), the body responsible for overseeing the venue delivery for the Olympics, remains confident that the venue will be ready in time.
"It's a difficult project. However, we are tackling it with the right spirit and competency in respect of time, costs and quality. I must say we are working towards plan A. Other people can worry about any emergency," he said.
If the deadline is missed, the current 'Plan B' involves relocating the events to Lake Placid in the U.S., though organizers are hopeful the huge upheaval of hosting events thousands of kilometers away won't be needed.
The Olympic Ice Stadium, one of the legacies of the 1956 Games, will be used for curling, and officials expect the new venue will again leave a lasting legacy for the area.
"The new sliding center will be very important for the legacy of Cortina. Cortina has an old history, old tradition in this kind of sport and for sure the new facility will put again Cortina in the center of the map," said Michele Di Gallo, general director of the Cortina Foundation, who are responsible for the organization of major events in the region.
As the countdown continues, the official motto for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics was unveiled in Milan on Thursday, with the slogan "It's Your Vibe," which is designed to embody the spirit of energy, passion, and connection between people.
Construction work on 2026 Winter Olympic venues speeds up as countdown continues
